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Conference - Artistic Networks of Trust: Collecting and Dealing in Times of War and Diplomacy - Calouste Gulbenkian Conference in Art History

Type: Conferences & Symposia [View all]
Posted by: Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
Deadline: Wed, October 8th, 2025

 

The Calouste Gulbenkian Conference in Art History, in its second edition, offers a reflection on networks of trust in the art world, through the lens of Calouste Gulbenkian’s life and transnational activities.

The second edition of the Calouste Gulbenkian Conference in Art History is dedicated to the theme “Artistic Networks of Trust: Collecting and Dealing in Times of War and Diplomacy.” Taking Calouste Gulbenkian as its central figure and placing particular emphasis on the role of Armenian networks, this event seeks to shed light on the complex social, political, and cultural dynamics that shaped the production, circulation, collecting, and display of artworks from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.

Calouste Gulbenkian emerges as a key figure within these transnational networks, acting as a collector, businessman, diplomat, and patron. His activity was closely intertwined with a broad network of relationships – many of them within the context of the Armenian diaspora – revealing how personal trust, community solidarity, and cultural affinities were essential to sustaining artistic exchange during periods of profound geopolitical upheaval.

Over the course of three days, a group of scholars will examine how these networks of trust supported the art world in contexts marked by migration, war, and diplomacy. Panels will address a wide range of topics, including the emergence of art markets in the Qajar and Ottoman Empires; the impact of WWI and WWII on dealing and collecting; the role of international exhibitions in moving objects and people, as well as marking alliances; and the intersections between art, philanthropy, and benevolence.

Wed, 08 Oct 17:30 / Registration 18:00 / Welcome  Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins – Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, António Filipe Pimentel – Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon

Keynote 18:15 / Of Photography’s Silence: Nevarte Essayan Gulbenkian and Armenian Women’s Global Networks as Sitters, Collectors, Patrons, and Advocates of Rights. Talinn Grigor – University of California, Davis, Houri Berberian – University of California, Irvine

Thu, 09 Oct 09:30 / Registration 10:00 / Opening speech Jessica Hallett – Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon

Panel 1 – Dealers Origins and Networks of Trust 

10:20 / From Merchant to Dealer: Anatolian Origins, Business Practices, and Trust in Calouste Gulbenkian’s Early Career Alyson Wharton-Durgaryan – Lincon University, Lincoln 10:45 / The Ispenian Clan and the Salvage Trade in Twentieth-Century Cairo Mercedes Volait – InVisu – Centre National de la recherche scientifique, Paris

— INTERMISSION 20 MIN. —

11:30 / Jews and Armenians as Dealers of Islamic Art: Perspectives from Constantinople and Paris Julia Phillips Cohen – Vanderbilt University, Nashville 11:55 / Banking and the Antiquities Trade: Translating Artefacts into Assets Margaret Graves – Brown University, Providence  12:25 / Debate  — INTERMISSION 90 MIN.

 Panel 2 – Dealing, Collecting, Diplomacy and War

14:00 / Gulbenkian(s), Armenians and Persia: Art and Diplomacy 1919-1941 Negar Habibi – University of Geneva, Geneva  14:25 / Dealing and Collecting Antiquities During the German Occupation of France Mattes Lammert – Universität Zürich, Zurich  14:50 / Gulbenkian’s ‘Battleship’: The Collector’s House in Wartime Vera Mariz – Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon 15:15 Debate 

— INTERMISSION 20 MIN. — 15:55 / Roundtable – Behind the Scenes: The Gulbenkian Archives and the Making of the Conference Mattes Lammert, Negar Habibi, Roxanne Goldberg, Vazken Davidian

Fri, 10 Oct 09:30 / Registration

Panel 3 - Exhibitions, Mobility and Politics 

10:00 / Dikran Kelekian and His Collections at the World’s Fairs: Chicago, Paris, and St. Louis Gizem Tongo – Hacettepe University, Ankara 10:25 / Paris and Munich as Hubs for Creating Stable Networks Between Collectors, Museum Experts, and Dealers for Half a Century Nathalie Neumann – Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz—

INTERMISSION 20 MIN.

— 11:10 / The Union of Armenian Artists, 1916-1921: A Mobile Exhibitionary Institution and Nascent Armenian Art Market  Sato Moughalian – CUNY Graduate Center, New York 11:35 / London 1931: Trajectories of Calouste Gulbenkian’s Persian Objects Yuka Kadoi – Universität Wien, Vienna 12:00 / Debate 

— INTERMISSION 90 MIN. —

Panel 4 - Art, Benevolence and Philanthropy: Rebuilding Networks

14:00 / The Gulbenkian Hereke Carpet, Expositions, and the Broader Network of Armenian Carpet Production in the Ottoman Empire Yaşar Tolga Cora – Boğaziçi University, Istanbul 14:25 / Doors of Generosity: Visual Cultures of Humanitarian Aid during and after the Armenian Genocide Roxanne Goldberg – ETH Zürich, Zurich 14:50 / Images of Despair and Suffering: Revisiting an Exhibition of Sarkis Katchadourian’s Armenian Genocide Paintings in 1923 Paris Vazken Davidian – University of Oxford, Oxford  15:15 / Debate 

— INTERMISSION 20 MIN.

— 15:55 / Roundtable – The Provenance Puzzle: New Directions and Unresolved Questions Heghnar Watenpaugh, Margaret Graves, Nathalie Neumann, Yuka Kadoi

16:25 / Closing 

URL: https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/agenda/artistic-networks-of-trust/?origin=https%3A//gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/agenda/%3Ffilter%255Btax%255D%255Bfcg-agenda_template%255D%255B%255D%3D5485%26eventId%3D313095 

Posted on Thu, July 24th, 2025
Expires on Wed, October 8th, 2025

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